"'Well, aren’t you special?' Suddenly, her voice turned ice cold and she jabbed her finger at my face and hissed, 'Get one thing straight, you little son of a bitch! There is nothing you can do to impress me! Do you understand me? You are a nobody! An It! You are nonexistent! You are a bastard child! I hate you and I wish you were dead! Dead! Do you hear me? Dead!'" (Pelzer 82).

This quote comes from the scene in which Pelzer brings home a letter from his fifth grade teacher congratulating him on winning the competition for naming the new school newspaper. Filled with happiness Pelzer rushes through the door in a hurry to show the letter to his mother in hopes that for once in his life she would be proud of him or his accomplishments. however, he does not receive the response that he is anticipating. Instead, he hears the lines written above come out Roerva's mouth. And although, this is not your typical story with a plot, this is somewhat the climax of the memoir. Roerva essentially, admits to Pelzer that she hates him, and now he finally understands that her anger towards him was not caused by the booze, but it was from her heart. To Catherine Roerva, Pelzer was an it. He was no longer a human child, not to mention her child, her own flesh and blood, he was an it. She left him hopeless with nowhere to turn gazing at the torn up letter on the floor. At that very moment Pelzer just wishes he could die because nothing he could do would make him worthy of his mother's recognition. This quote in particular, is very significant because it is Roerva's final message to her son, and it portrays her true feelings about him. These words stand out due to their harsh and abusive connotation, and they foreshadow Catherine Roerva's never-ending wrath of abuse against David.